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on Mardi Gras beads
Toss them at a parade to spring break revelers
By Kathy Prentice
Spring break starts mid-March and lasts through April, drawing hundreds of thousands of 18-to 24-year-olds, many with money to spend, to markets along both coasts.
Their agenda? Obviously, to have a good time.
Special events like parades, as well as visits to the local hip watering holes, are likely sites to reach spring break revelers.
One way that advertisers are getting their branding images into revelers’ hands, or literally around their necks, is with giveaway Mardi Gras-style beads.
To find out how to get your client on beads at bars and bashes, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
Advertising logos embossed on medallions that are strung on beaded necklaces and given out at special events like parades and at night spots.
Who
Adpower Media Group, Inc., headquartered in Clearwater, Florida.
How it works
Medallions with an advertiser’s logo are mixed in with traditional Mardi Gras-style strings of beads and lighted beads, and distributed to crowds in both outdoor and indoor events.
Campaigns can be a one-time occurrence at a special event like a parade, can stretch over several days of a celebration or festival, or can be distributed intermittently during a print or promotion campaign.
“If an advertiser wants to promote their product at the Mardi Gras they can throw beads out from a float,” says Joe Webb, Adpower Media Group president. “They create a frenzy.”
Bead campaigns have become trendy in clubs and bars that cater to young crowds, Webb says. “The DJ talks it up, then models throw the beads out to the crowd, compliments of…”
Tossing beads is also used as a promotion to entice consumers into a club or bar. “For example on Church Street in Orlando they’ll close the street off to car traffic and thousands of college kids fill the street. A local radio station builds a two-story platform and throws out thousands of beads…medallions mixed with lighted beads…and the kids go wild. Or a bar throws them out their second story window and ends up with the biggest line of kids trying to get inside.”
Creative is provided by advertisers.
There are several types of beads. Traditional, multi-colored strings of high-gloss beads are mixed with the logo strings. “They have no advertising value, but they’re a good mix in the frenzy,” Webb says.
Medallions are two-and-a-half inches across and are strung with traditional beads. Advertisers can choose multi-color or other color combinations. Upwards of 75 colors are available.
Strings of battery-operated lighted beads are interspersed with medallion and traditional strings when thrown out to crowds.
All three types of beads are usually part of the giveaway. Due to their expense, lighted beads are lightest in the mix.
Branding is the goal of medallion campaigns, Webb says. “They’re strictly logos.”
Beads can be used as a stand-alone medium, but at inside events are most frequently used in a mix with posters placed in bar or club restrooms, with signage in light boxes and often with coasters and glassware which are also stamped with an advertiser’s logo.
Advertisers include national brands and a strong presence of regional advertisers. “It’s usually out of the grasp of local advertisers unless it’s someone like a Busch Gardens,” Webb says.
Service is turnkey with the provider handling production and distribution. “We’ll put together the event, supply models if they choose,” Webb says.
Markets
The biggest bead markets are Florida and Southern California, with recent campaigns also in Las Vegas, Texas, Alabama, Maryland, Ohio and Kentucky.
Adpower Media Group can place campaigns in 4,500 locations in the top-25 U.S. markets, Webb says.
Numbers
How measured?
Measurement is based on the number of people passing through a club or event for the evening, Webb says. “An individual may get several strands of beads so we don’t base it on how many are given away.”
Verification of distribution is provided with pictures. Video is also available.
What product categories do well?
Liquor and other beverages like sports drinks and soft drinks and entertainment are big.
“It’s got to be something that an 18-to 24-year-old wants to buy on impulse,” Webb says.
Other categories that Webb says would work well are automobiles, clothing and resorts.
Demographics
The 18-to 28-year-old male and female audiences that enjoy nightlife are the targets.
“The biggest impact is in night clubs and at street events like parades,” Webb says. “But we also use them in bars. There are an awful lot of parades that aren’t family oriented, nighttime parades where the crowds are wild and crazy.”
Making the buy
Lead-time is usually four to six weeks for a standard campaign. Occasionally 90 days is needed for production of very large orders, Webb says.
Campaigns range from one event to twelve months for mixed media campaigns that include signage.
Bead distribution is focused on Saturday nights and some Friday nights, Webb says. “During spring break we hit every weekend and some weeknights, too.”
Beads come in dozens.
Factors that affect pricing include whether the medallion is printed on one or both sides, the number of strands, how they’re distributed and the types of beads selected. Standard length is 33 inches but strands also run 48, 60 or 72.
“A lot of the price depends on how labor intensive the delivery is,” Webb says. “For an inexpensive campaign we can deliver cases of beads and the bartenders will throw them to the crowds. Or a company like SoBe may throw them from their promotional booth. Our promotions can be as simple as a model throwing beads out to as elaborate as a party in a martini or cigar bar where we have models handing out product samples and beads.”
Campaigns run from a few thousand dollars to as large as a budget permits, Webb says.
Who’s already on medallions?
SoBe, Busch Gardens.
What they’re saying
“The great thing about beads is that kids take them, and when they’re done wearing them they hang them in their cars around the mirror, right in front of their faces. Let’s say that they have a lasting impression.” -- Joe Webb, Adpower Media Group president.
“We do experiential marketing, which is face-to-face interaction with the target market. That’s why giving out beads – either through a retail outlet or special events – is usually the best way to reach people.” -- Rob Vanatsky, senior area manager for SoBe when they placed a bead campaign at a Key West Fantasy Fest parade.
Web site info
Adpower Media Group, Inc. at www.adpowermedia.com
March 18, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Kathy Prentice writes about out-of-home advertising for Media Life, penning her stories from the resort town of Traverse City, in the upper reaches of Michigan.
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